Highland Park

What type of whisky is Highland Park?

Highland Park is a single malt Scotch whisky, meaning the whisky comes from one distillery and one type of grain. Highland Park naturally uses pot stills, as is always the case with single malt Scotch whisky.

Highland Park whisky is slightly smoky, as it primarily uses malted barley that has subsequently been smoked with local heather peat. However, non-peated malt is also added during production, which generally classifies Highland Park whisky as a lightly peated whisky.

Where does Highland Park whisky come from?

The Highland Park whisky distillery is located on the island of Orkneyoff the coast of northern Scotland, making it one of the northernmost whisky distilleries in the world. The climate around Orkney is relatively harsh and windswept, and as temperatures are also low, there are actually no trees on the island. On the other hand, there are two whisky distilleries.

The Highland Park distillery was founded in Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, by Magnus Eunson back in the 1790s. Eunson was a colourful character who worked for the church by day and distilled and smuggled illegal whisky by night, but was caught red-handed in 1798. It wasn't until almost 30 years later, in 1826, that the distillery received its official license.

Highland Park and the Vikings

Orkney, where Highland Park is located, was actually under both Norwegian and Danish rule during the Viking Age, and there are still traces of Norse affiliation when visiting the island. In fact, it was the Vikings and their descendants who ruled Orkney from 800 AD until 1468, and one in three of Orkney's residents still have Viking DNA in their veins to this day. Therefore, Highland Park whisky often has names that refer to the Vikings, such as Viking Scarsand Viking Heart

Highland Park's Danish Connection

From a Danish perspective, Highland Park whisky is extra interesting, as their Senior Brand Ambassador is actually from Denmark and is named Martin Markvardsen. Martin has held some fantastic whisky tastings at Rombo, and it is a true pleasure to meet him and hear about his time with Highland Park whisky. In addition, due to his Viking expertise, Danish Jim Lyngvild is also involved in the design of the bottles.

Highland Park Special Bottlings

Highland Park is definitely one of the more innovative producers of Scotch single malt whisky. In the core range, at the time of writing, you will find their 10 year, 12 year, 18 year, 21 year, 25 year and 30 year, as well as some even older bottlings in very small numbers. In addition, there are a number of different Highland Park special bottlings such as Dragon Legend and The Light + The Dark (a series of 2 whiskies), Triskelion from 3 different cask types and the single cask release Thyra Danebod.